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Fédération internationale des géomètres
Committee IV: Town Planning
National report from the Netherlands, 1953-1958
sociologue, urbaniste ou architecte de même que tous ces spécialistes ne
sont point géomètres.
Par contre, le géomètre est bien cartographe et topographe. A toutes les
phases préparatoires il faut des cartes, cartes a échelles diverses. Des plans
directeurs a i 50.000, 1 25.000 ou 1 10.000, des plans d'extension
généraux 1 5.000, les mêmes pour secteurs a 1 2.500, enfin pour les
détails i 1000. Pour les détails on se sert de cartes topographiques de
grande précision a 1 1000. La préparation de ces cartes incombe aux
services topographiques.
Quand on aborde l'exécution, un plan dimensionnel est réalisé. C'est un
plan qui se base sur des calculs avec les données fournies par les stipulations
géométriques du projet d'extension. Le plan dimensionnel donne les ren-
seignements nécessaires pour les devis de la voirie, des égouts, des ponts, etc.
Lors de l'exécution, le géomètre devient l'homme tout important qui
assure la justesse des mesures réalisées. C'est lui qui fait que les constructions
se font a l'endroit exact, que les canalisations se posent dans les tracés prévus.
En résumant on peut dire que la tache du géomètre dans les extensions
urbaines se situe principalement dans les travaux géométriques de l'exécution.
Ir. R. J. RIENKS, Rotterdam:
Town planning in the Netherlands
A high rate of population increase in the Netherlands and the wartime
backlog in building have resulted in rapid growth of built-up areas.
An increasing population requires industrialization, which again needs
building space. In addition, to handle its raw materials and products,
industry needs transport facilities: roads, canals, docks etc.
This process is most marked in the West of the country. Here one finds
a number of built-up areas in a ring around a land depression. The ring is
formed by the urban areas of Rotterdam, The Hague, Leiden, Haarlem,
Amsterdam, Amersfoort and Utrecht. This "Randstad Holland" (fringe
city) threatens to fuse completely into a solid ring of cities. Its total popula
tion at present is about 4 million, with a density of some 2390 inhabitants
per km2 (6100 per sq.m.).
Randstad Holland itself is part of a chain of densely populated areas
along the river Rhine and its tributaries such as the Ruhr. This main road
of Western Europe ends in the "Port of Europe" in the Rotterdam area,
a port linking Holland and its hinterland to the world abroad.
The docks in this port area are accessible to large ocean-going vessels. Even
100,000 ton supertankers with a draught of 45 ft will soon find accommoda
tion. Docks for ocean-going craft, transhipment into river barges and land
storage however all need space. Important recreation areas will have to be
sacrificed.
The development of Randstad Holland is now watched with anxiety.
Agricultural areas are being swallowed by the cities. The loss of agricultural
land is as yet compensated by reclamation in the former Zuiderzee and along
the North Sea coast in Friesland and Groningen, but there is an end to this.
Recreation suffers too, with an urban population finding less and less open
space and crowding what remains of it, in the holiday period.
Space must therefore be planned, with careful and efficient allocation of
what remains available. This starts with the central government, who directs
overall development through a master plan for land utilization. The allo
cations of this plan constitute the directives for town planning.